Tinks: The Football Jinx?

[GrizLA]

That was a good comment earlier in this thread, about the difficulty coaches have moving up to a new level. It actually reminded that with DeCuire we have just the opposite case--a talented young coach who is actually moving DOWN a level--from a major to a mid-major.The result? He's recruited, scheduled and coached to a his own higher level, not the one we're accustomed to.

The greatest indication of this so far is the recruiting. Tinks was a very good recruiter, but not to the level of DeCuire. We got some great guys with Tinks, but also some stretches, and some duds. With DeCuire, I haven't seen one false note, at least not yet. And we're talking now about eight on the current roster, three more next year, and one committed and another big-time recruit definitely interested for the 2018 class. That's thirteen guys DeCuire has either signed or has on the hook, and the talent level is unquestionably the best in the history of our basketball program. Maybe this is what we were hoping for with Kennedy, an upper level guy moving down to mid-major, but that was different. Kennedy was at the fading end of his career, while DeCuire is a rising star. One consolation for us: If and when he moves on, DeCuire will have left the cupboard full, the program strong.

I can't disagree with any of that. I also think DeCuire is a better coach but sometimes it seems the only way to measure the super success of college bball teams is the number of one and done's....When we have that, we will know UM has hit the big time...

 

[UMGriz75]

That was a good comment earlier in this thread, about the difficulty coaches have moving up to a new level. It actually reminded that with DeCuire we have just the opposite case--a talented young coach who is actually moving DOWN a level--from a major to a mid-major.The result? He's recruited, scheduled and coached to a his own higher level, not the one we're accustomed to.

My background, outside of UM, is across the bay from Stanford, and Travis' asst coach position, at UC Berkeley and the Golden Bears. My head coach there spent his early, graduate student years at UM. So, he and Mike Montgomery always had a UM connection that they both enjoyed. Mike and Travis were very, very highly regarded at "Cal." It was the unanimous opinion at Cal that Travis should have replaced Mike. I knew then that we were a lucky, lucky BSC program when he came here. At the same time, "best of both worlds" that Tinks got the opportunity at OSU.